Fighting for You
by xSummonerYunax
Summary: In her one moment of weakness, Leon is there for her. RE2 in-game. Leon/Claire


Fighting for You

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Claire hadn't expected things to turn out the way they were unfolding now. Minutes ago, she had stormed into a dank cell and found Irons crawling about. She had intended on getting, _demanding_ some answers from him, but somehow, the roles were switched. He was now the hunter, and she was the prey.

And like a little trapped animal that was helpless from its seeker's clutches, she was cornered with a gun in her face. She was hardly frightened of that though. She could see it in Iron's eyes that he wasn't going to kill, at least not just yet. There was something else he wanted, and the lustful way he looked her up and down told her that he wanted to do more than just complain to her about how Umbrella had taken his city.

Claire spoke rapidly, but she didn't even know what she was saying anymore. The words just flowed, and it didn't even mattered if they made sense or not as long as they were somehow distracting Irons to buy her enough time to think of something to get out of this mess. Great. She came to town to find Chris and just found out that he wasn't even here anymore. Next, she found Sherry, but lost her, and on en route to finding the little girl again, she just had to cross path with the psychotic chief. This really wasn't her night.

Her feet moved on their own, bringing her backward until she felt something cold and hard hit her back, the surface a bit wet. As much as the cool wall felt soothing against her warm skin, her body involuntarily shivered with disgust and fear. She took a deep breath, stood tall, and hoped that Irons couldn't see her body quivering beneath her lucky vest, the one Chris had bought for her last year. Her mind was racing, desperately trying to find an escape that she didn't even realize that Irons was nearing the end of his little speech.

"…but if I have to go, I'm taking you with me."

Claire squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away. Never had she felt so weak in her entire life. If only she had the reassuring weight of her handgun in her hand, the weight of power, she would've placed a clean bullet right through his heart already, but Irons had caught her by surprise upon her entrance and knocked it out of her hand. This was it. He was going to kill her, but not before he'd violate her in a way that would be crueler than being killed by those monsters. She heard her heart thump, and was surprised at how loud it sounded against the prison of her chest. It wasn't until she heard a guttural scream from Irons that she realized that the soft _thumps _weren't her heart beating. It was his.

She cracked one eye open and immediately wished she hadn't. Claire gasped with horror as she saw Irons staggering backwards, his arms flailing wildly, grasping for the air to hold him while his body was convulsing. It was wild, confusing, and fast, ending almost as quickly as it had begun. Something suddenly imploded within Irons's chest, causing him to drop his gun and drop to his knees. A schism was starting to form across his chest, streaks of thin blood jetting from the broken skin that peeled like crusty paint caught in the wind. There was a final shriek from the chief as something erupted from his chest, something alive, tearing his entire upper body in half.

And suddenly, Irons had become the prey, and that _creature_, whatever it was, was the hunter. The little bounty game was over.

Claire brought her arm up just in time to shield herself from a wave of blood tossed her way. It was disgusting, revolting, but she was still alive. She wasn't that pile of dead flesh by her feet.

Her body moved before her mind could command. She couldn't even recall actually reaching for her dropped gun, but when she looked at her hand, it was right there--safe and secured within her grasp again. She let out a sigh and held the urge to cry as she slid down the cold wall, Irons's blood smearing with her sleeveless arms.

"Claire!? You in there?"

That voice!

"L-leon," she croaked and stunned, too tired to even call for assistance. She was going to sit straighter and attempt to call out his name, louder this time, sure that he hadn't heard her last pitiful attempt when the door swung open.

And there he was—the stranger she had met a few hours ago, someone she barely knew, was rushing up to her like she was his last hope for everything.

"Geez…Claire, are you all right?" His heavy footsteps came to a halt and he knelt down gently, surveying her face, trying to make sense of her unreadable expression.

"Heh…fine…" she managed to say with a small laugh as she placed her gun down within reaching distance. Ironic, really, how she still had the strength to find some bitter humor in the midst of what had just happened five minutes ago. The only thing that probably gave away the fact that she wasn't 'fine' were the traces of tears in her eyes, a prelude of what was to come.

"You don't look fine to me," Leon said with a grin, one that was light and matched her faked one.

"It could have been worse…" Claire whispered quietly, nudging her head toward the remains of Irons—a heap of bloody tissues and flat skin. From her angle, his head looked detached from the rest of his body, and she wouldn't be the slightest surprised if it were really dislocated.

Leon turned to face the mess and then looked down immediately, completely unprepared for the unforgiving gruesome sight. What shocked him even more was that he had somehow _missed _the bloodbath on his way in. He had heard a scream outside the door when he was in a long corridor, and it terrified him to even consider that Claire could be in danger. He remembered racing down the hall, angry with himself for splitting up to begin with just to cover more ground. He was a cop and she was a college student who was probably no more than twenty. All societal expectations aside, he still felt that protecting her was his duty.

"I-Im sorry. I should have gotten here sooner," Leon said. He lowered his head, almost as if he were ashamed that he had failed her.

"It's okay, he's gone now…forever…" She blinked, the first sign of animation on her frozen face.

"What the hell happened?"

"H-he was coming towards me, about to kill me, and then something ripped from his chest and got to him." She squeezed her eyes closed and leaned against the damp wall. When she snapped them open a moment later, her eyes were wet, the tears mixed with blood staining her face. Her body quivered and suddenly, she no longer had the ability to control her tears, and neither did she want to. Just this morning, she had been studying in her dormitory, and now she was suddenly thrown in to the middle of a necropolis. The one person she was looking to find wasn't even here, and she had no idea whether or not if he was okay, or if he was still even alive.

Leon dropped his shotgun and without even realizing how good it felt to have such a heavy weight lifted off of him, he moved next to Claire and draped an arm around her, gently pulling her head on to his shoulder. She didn't object, and neither did he when he felt the hot tears, blood, and sweat smearing against his arm. In fact, he welcomed it—she was still alive. Leon had no siblings and was rather awkward with comforting others. He was an independent man, relying only on himself through thick and thin, so the fact that there was another person who needed comforting right now made him nervous to say the least. Still, he couldn't let the poor girl be swept away by the anger and fear consuming her. He sure as hell wasn't 'Chris,' but right now, he knew she needed him as much as she needed her older brother.

"Shh…" he whispered so soothingly that he even picked up on how uncharacteristically of him it sounded. He hesitantly rubbed his hand up and down her arm, unsure if the gesture was going to help in the least. "We're going to be out of this nightmare soon. We're going to find your brother and put this all to an end. I promise."

His low voice echoed throughout the hollow room and reverberated in Claire's ears, over and over again like a constant reassurance. Normally, she'd find it hard to believe those words, but right now in her moment of hopelessness, she was starting to believe the truth in them. It felt so wonderful to be in the presence of another (someone who wasn't a monster or a creepy murderer), even if he were just a stranger to her. Still, she hadn't felt this safe and secured since she was last with Chris. For the first time, she began to see the similarity between Leon and Chris—both had a strong sense of justice, handsome, strong, quiet, and protective.

"Thanks, Leon…" Claire whispered, the tears slowly ceasing. Her body and the tight muscles around her jaw relaxed. She had a strong urge to wrap her arm around his waist, the way she would with Chris whenever they needed emotional support from each other, which was quite often given that both their parents died when they were relatively young. No, she wasn't equating Leon with Chris, and she didn't want to think of Leon as the brotherly type, either. Whether she liked to admit it or not, she found him to be very attractive—in both looks and personality. That had registered the first time they met, but she never thought too much into it until now. She never had the chance to until now. Almost shyly, she moved her arm around his abdomen and felt the muscles beneath her hand constrict.

"Sorry…" she said, and was about to pull away embarrassingly when he surprised her by securing her arm around him.

She looked up and found him smiling at her. She didn't know how it was possible to actually enjoy the sight of his sweet grin while Irons's bloody decay was right next to her, the smell of death suffocating her nostrils, but she did.

And she smiled back, too, the initial fear melting away just briefly, giving her a moment of complete peace before she had to go back out and face the nightmare again.

Leon didn't know what he was doing, but he knew it certainly felt good to have the young woman in his arms. He leaned his head against the crown of hers and silently wondered if her brother, Chris would give him a beating if he were to see them together right now. He wasn't in the least trying to take advantage of her; he hoped she didn't think so either. Judging from the way she was receiving him, he figured that she probably didn't. This wasn't like him at all—to grow this attached to someone whom he had just met, but he couldn't deny that he was very fond of her.

"Feeling better?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I am…" she answered honestly without having to put up a tough front. She was a strong girl and hated breaking down, but every now and then, she had to accept that it was a part of living. This was one of those times. "I'm going to continue to search for Sherry."

"Maybe I should come with you," he offered. The thought that Claire could potentially face danger again made his heartbeat quicken.

"No, like you said, we'll cover more grounds if we split up. Besides, you promised me that we're going to get out of here soon, so we need to do this separately."

Leon looked like he wanted to argue, but when he saw the resolved look on her face, he sighed defeat. "Then you'll promise you'll be careful?"

"Only if you promise to be careful yourself!" Claire chuckled and hugged him tighter. She really was enjoying his warmth, the security of being in his embrace, but duty had to be put first.

"You got yourself a deal, little girl," he said, an awful attempt at a flirtatious remark.

Any other guy, she would have probably kicked him in the crotch, but it was remarkably funny hearing that from Leon. "I'm going to hold you to that."

He stood up first and then reached out for her hand, pulling her to a full stand. He hefted his shotgun up with one hand and picked up her handgun, firmly placing it in her grasp. He looked so serious that Claire was starting to feel that she had said or done something wrong. "I mean it, Claire. Be careful…"

"Not to worry," she reassured and walked toward the ladder in the corner, trying her hardest to avoid the bloody mess on her way. She turned around a final time and waved to Leon before she climbed down, suddenly getting a newfound motivation to finish what she started.

Leon watched as she disappeared and waited a few minutes. When it was quiet and he was certain that she had passed the danger, he went back into the hall. "Don't worry, Chris. I'll make sure your little sister makes it out of here alive. She's not dying, not on my watch."

-Fin

A/N: I was in the mood to write something overly sweet and I believe this is my first Leon/Claire fic! Hopefully, more to come! It takes place right after Irons die in the game and I took his sexual advances from Perry's novelization of RE2. Thanks for reading and please leave a review! They're much appreciated! ^__^


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